The 1993 film In Custody (Muhafiz) was directed by Ismail Merchant and produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. This was the first feature film directed by Merchant, who had previously gained fame for producing movies such as Howard’s End and The Remains of the Day.

The screenplay was written in Urdu, with English subtitles, by Anita Desai and Shahrukh Husain. The film is based on Desai’s 1984 Booker Prize nominated novel of the same name.